Someone called the Broderick Tower Home...

In Detroit’s Grand Circus Park sits, decaying and disused, the David Broderick Tower.

Erected in 1928 and 37 storeys high, the Broderick Tower once stood as the second tallest building in Michigan; since the 80’s it has stood empty and derelict, awaiting venturous folk like Radiospike to capture and share it’s dark, dormant depths and remnants of a once thriving, well-used building.

The pictures are a wonderful documentation of how as a society, we allow for the misuse of our spaces and resources. For the past two decades The Broderick has been home to the occasional squatter rather than made useful as housing or as a commercial building. Now I’m not saying that squatters don’t have the right to use spaces that are left derelict – someone might as well be using the space! Heck, the Baseball Stadium made the most of it by using the derelict site, visible from the stadium, for advertising! But while The Broderick, with the capacity to house over a hundred people, sat empty there were people in Detroit seeking affordable housing, students and young families competing in a low supply housing market.

Motown Construction Inc. bought the building and now The Broderick is being rebirthed into residential and commercial space. Whilst this is great news to have The Broderick restored and the ‘heart of the city’ revived, I somehow feel the space won’t be accessible or inclusive of the whole community.

I also wonder how much profit was made on this building, as it sat empty, silently accruing economic rent whilst housing in the surrounding areas was short in supply but high in demand.

I’m interested to see how in demand the new Broderick will be, seeing how close it’s to the sporting stadium and walking distance from entertainment and work. The prices will be high I’m sure; perhaps taking some photos inside the new Broderick and juxtaposing them next to  Radiospike’s images will show us the two sides of a system gone wrong. How can we ensure that spaces like the Broderick are well used but in a way that the entire community benefits?

I am NOT encouraging you to break into abandoned areas or houses, but it would be interesting to see just how many little Brodericks are lying around in your town in your part of the world, despite the housing affordability ‘crisis’ we keep hearing about.